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My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

support.vizio.com

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Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#51

Post by neilv »

When my very nice Sony Bravia vintage dumb-TV did something like this last year, it was due to a streaming service running on my PS5, which service I canceled, with extreme prejudice.

(Right now, the ad-free Netflix that I pay for is testing limits sometimes, of how much they try to control my experience for their own whims, but it's tolerable, and there's potential obnoxious things that they tastefully haven't done.) (Though they did briefly give me two creepy categories, for about a day, but then maybe someone realized their mistake, or got the Netflix fired-fast.)

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#52

Post by alemanek »

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #47
pmags wrote: post #2

I seem to recall that Vizio was added to my "do not buy" list quite a long time ago, when it turned out they were monitoring your watching habit ( https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tr... ). This seems to be more of the same I guess. Choice text from the link above: Q: Why did I see an ad in Scenic Mode? A: After Scenic Mode launches to full screen, you may see ads. We offer free, scenic conten…

I believe a Roku does the same kind of TV fingerprinting, and probably so do the other streaming hardware devices. So, not sure there is any relief anywhere? You can run your own linux HPC, but those get locked to 720p quality.

Apple TV is pretty good and not very pricey. It’s a good value

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#53

Post by [deleted] »

kulahan wrote: post #31
nightski wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can however turn scenic mode off which I would do immediately. That said, probably would never consider a Vizio tv.

Yeah, looks like all they’re saying is that you can’t use scenic mode without ads. They even promise it won’t turn itself back on after an update, which is a surprising yet refreshing thing to see.

[deleted]

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#55

Post by koolba »

mlinhares wrote: post #14
pmags wrote: post #2

I seem to recall that Vizio was added to my "do not buy" list quite a long time ago, when it turned out they were monitoring your watching habit ( https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tr... ). This seems to be more of the same I guess. Choice text from the link above: Q: Why did I see an ad in Scenic Mode? A: After Scenic Mode launches to full screen, you may see ads. We offer free, scenic conten…

All TVs at home are blocked by MAC on the wifi router, so there's definitely a way to turn off this bullshit.

Why is it on the network at all if it’s blocked?

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#56

Post by greatgib »

So fun (when you don't have this shitty tv) to read this FAQ.

A wtf at each paragraph:

- question1: video starting alone to "provide you a relaxing experience". I'm totally so relaxed by that unexpected kind of things...

- question2: suddenly ads can show up in this video to be able to provide you a more relaxing experience. Sure sure, how relaxing to be force fed ads unsolicited on your own tv...

- question3: can I stop that? No you can't because we are forced to impose you these ads for your own good...

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#57

Post by throwaway519 »

tw04 wrote: post #54
throwaway519 wrote: post #38

Wasn't Vizio the company that sold a box letting you skip ads? What happened?

Walmart bought them specifically to be an ad serving platform. https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/12/03/walmart-comple...

Thanks

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#58

Post by userbinator »

omalled wrote: post #29
userbinator wrote: post #18

You can buy a "smart" TV with ads for cheap, and get a generic replacement motherboard to dumb it down.

Do you have a link or something that goes into how to do this?

http://web.archive.org/web/20190511065920/http://redlightgre... (original Russian page: https://mysku.club/blog/aliexpress/67872.html )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YTL25iyHU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM8_kJENdoQ

There are plenty of other videos but the vast majority are not in English - they seem to be some Indian or Russian.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#59

Post by x3n0ph3n3 »

koolba wrote: post #55
mlinhares wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All TVs at home are blocked by MAC on the wifi router, so there's definitely a way to turn off this bullshit.

Why is it on the network at all if it’s blocked?

Streaming content on the LAN.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#60

Post by drivingmenuts »

jmward01 wrote: post #41

Sadly people keep buying these types of devices. Every time I walk by modern devices all I can think is how I wish I could buy them without the fear of what they will do once I turn them on. I don't want a new car because of the spying it does. I don't want a new TV because of the spying and advertising it does. I don't want any part of the current crop of smart speakers because of the spying/advertising they do. The…

There are workarounds for a lot of those things, though, and some of them work out to be pretty cheap in the long run. You will have to get used to using older equipment in a lot of cases and doing some of your own maintenance.
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